Tales of the New Sith Order: Crusade
by Defender16
Summary: The Empire and it's people are threatened by both Rebellion and the encroaching Yuuzhan Vong. Not all people are willing to just die waiting for the Empire to save them however. In war there is money to be made, especially if you claim to serve the Empire
1. Chapter 1

+++ 

Ora Gades, Captain of the Corvette 'Bright Hope' realised nearly too late she'd urged her ship in too close to the Star Destroyer Tyrannic. "Hard Starboard! Put us into the engine wash!" 

The bridge shook violently as a turbolaser barrage burned one side of the corvette's hammerhead bow. Other shots hit the Corvette's underside turbolaser turret and a few of the sublight drives. Before any more hits could strike them the ship entered the Destroyer's blind spot. 

"All engines full stop!" screamed Gades over the damage alarms.  
The red of emergency lighting cut in as the operations officer shunted any available power to shields. In the few seconds that they'd been in the Destroyer's engine wash hull temperature had shot up to dangerous levels. As the sensors came back online the bridge crew saw that their last chance turn had worked. 

"We're falling behind. Tyrranic's gunners are concentrating on the other Destroyers."

Ora wiped the sweat off her brow. "Good news. Weapons what did we lose?"

The Rodian at weapons shook his head. "[Half of our turbolasers took damage. I think we lost everyone in turret two."

"Then we'll have to tag-team with Dereliction. Helm bring as around the edges of the fighting. We'll see if we can stay out of the way of the big ships most of the battle."

Tie starfighters streaked past strafing the ship as they changed course again.   
"I hope the Commander doesn't do anything stupid out there."   
said Gades, mainly to herself.  
"Just think Captain, if he does get killed you'd be the one left in charge." commented one of the few other humans aboard.

The woman laughed at that. "We're not that lucky Zebv."

+++ 

Out in space the Battle for control of Bothawui and the entire sector raged. The Rebels that had been waiting for two long years to resume their fight against the Empire showed no mercy.   
The Rebel fleet waiting in ambush at the edge of the system swept through the Imperial Destroyer lines holding the flank in minutes. Still, the Rebels were outnumbered and things seemed to be turning back in Imperial favour until the Rebel elite squadrons rushed one of the Command ships scattering Tie formations in the process. 

The Mon Cal Heavy Cruisers Defiance and Galactic Voyager engaged the 8km long Command Class Super Star Destroyer that formed the backbone of the Imperial taskforce. the Command ship took heavy damage in the ensuing torpedo exchange and began it's withdrawal, using it's escorts to ward off attackers and hold the exit vector long enough for the rest of the Imperial fleet to escape. 

When all was ended close to a dozen Star Destroyers drifted in orbit of the Rebel world. Most of them were the smaller Victory class ships but that wouldn't make any difference to the Rebels. They now had enough ship hulls to rebuild their fleet and thanks to their victory, time enough to do it. Still, more than a hundred smaller ships burned in space, their crews killed either by laser fire or the vacuum of space. 

A week had passed since the end of the battle for Bothawui but the planet's main space port still bustled with activity. Salvage ships took off or landed every couple of seconds hauling the smaller sections of debris out of orbit before they could burn up in the atmosphere. The whine of repulsor lift drives filled the air making any conversation outside difficult. 

Talon Karrde leaned against one of the spaceport walls as he watched crew boarding Bright Hope. "We could still use your ships here. The Imperials have already started raids into the sector using Assault Gunboats and the like."

Alek 'Def' Valen slung a bag with Tie pilot gear over his shoulder then looked to Karrde. "No, I'm taking my ships out of here for repairs. It's our job to keep harassing the slavers headed to Hutt space and they'll start to notice if we stay away."

"Well good luck to you." Karrde offered his hand to the younger man and Alek shook with his one free hand. "We returned your surviving EZ-95, and we'll be sending a couple of Tie Clutch pilots with you."

"Already spoke to them. We have a couple fighters in reserve back at base but we didn't have the room on our ships to bring them."

Before the pilot could turn towards the waiting ship Karrde pulled out a data pad. "Here's an intel report we received. It's supposed to be about a base roughly along your return route so I was hoping you could check it out."

Alek took the pad in his free hand and stuffed it into a flight suit pocket. "My crew will be annoyed with the detour but that's nothing new. See you in a few months Karrde, and tell Booster sorry that I couldn't stay longer."

Karrde followed a short distance behind as the pilot made his way toward the landing ramp. "You know Booster still wants you to head up his fighter squadrons." 

"I can make more money fighting slavers though, and the company I keep don't mind the local venue." The pilot tossed loose salute as the landing ramp began to raise. 

001

AUTHOR'S NOTE: See Part 68 of 'Tales of the New Sith Order' for the Bright Hope's minor appearance in the Battle of Bothawui. 

This story was originally to be entitled, 'Privateer' but that failed to fit with the the intended direction it is to later take. 


	2. Chapter 2

-1

+++ 

"This is even slower going than our trip to the Rebel stronghold." Grumbled Alek crossing his arms over his chest.

Captain Gades slid a data pad she'd been looking over into the side of her command chair. "We need the time for damage repair but this is ridiculous." She stood and walked over to the Nav-station where Zebv was plotting out the micro jumps needed to weave their way past several natural hazards.

"Looking over my shoulder wont make the ship fly any faster sir." commented Zebv once he was finished a set of course adjustments for stellar drift. 

Exasperated the captain turned back to Alek. "Def, what the _hell_ are we doing out here? Really." 

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "You know everything I do from that Pad. A location for a secret Imperial base that gave even Ghent a hard time decrypting." 

"Any slicer could get through even the hardest Imperial encryption with enough time." 

Alek shook his head. "Not Ghent normally. I met him once when I was younger. He's some kind of genius but even he couldn't figure out why the Imps put some kind of base out here."

The ship Captain sat back down shaking her head. "There are dozens of safer places they could have built some small base in the Core. Why put anything out here?" 

"That's what we're going to find out." 

+++ 

The Corvette Bright Hope and the Gunship Dereliction reverted to realspace in a remote star system on the edge of the Mid-Rim. It had only a long string of numbers for a designation and wouldn't have even been listed if not for the System's distant Binary affecting hyperspace travel through the region. The system's inner star was a dim and rather small Red Dwarf. 

Alek pushed off from the wall he'd been leaning against at the back of the bridge. "We should use passive sensors only and probably switch to line of sight communications with Dereliction." 

"Right, get it done people." 

After a few minutes into their orbit the Rodian bridge officer looked up. "[I think I found something."   
"What have you got Eleck?" Ora was soon out of her chair and looking over the other officer's shoulder. 

"[A Cargo Facility II in an Elliptical orbit to the star. It's fairly close in but these starts don't put out a lot of heat." 

Alek shook his head. "Cargo Facility two's are big stations. I'm surprised no one has noticed this thing sooner." 

"[The station is missing close to half it's mass. Look, it's only got the one cargo transfer arm." 

"Put it on the main screen and magnify." 

The forward holoprojector lit up showing an image of what looked to be a badly damaged and abandoned station. Most of the lower sections of the station were missing and just as the sensor operator had claimed one whole cargo docking pylon was gone.   
Alek strode up and pointed to a fairly regular looking piece of debris situated near the top of the station. "That looks like a turbolaser turret."   
"[You're right... there's two more of them, possibly four total." 

"Civilian built Cargo Facilities don't normally have weapons do they?" asked the Captain.  
Alek shook his head. "No, they're normally protected by free floating defence platforms." 

"[The turrets look to be situated to protect against light capital ships."

"There's gotta be something of value on that station. Just hit the turrets using our remaining EZ-95 and we use Bright Hope to put a boarding party in their main cargo bay. Dereliction can give us any other cover fire we need."

Ora sighed and rubbed at her forehead. "Def you're never hesitant at all to risk my ship are you?" 

He flashed a grin at the ship Captain. "Yeah, not really no. I'll make it up to you somehow." He turned and headed for the bridge doors. "I'll round up some people for a boarding party. I promise not to take more than forty." He shouted over his shoulder. The doors closed behind him with a hiss. 

Ora glared after him for a few moments them went back to her command chair. "I swear, he's going to get himself and everyone around him killed one of these days. If he hadn't gotten me off that damn slave ship I'd never work for him." 

"I'll second that motion." spoke up Zebv from his station. 

"Shut up Zebv."

002 


	3. Chapter 3

-1

+ 

A lone EZ-95 ugly reverted to realspace nearly within spitting distance of the half destroyed Cargo Facility Two. The pilot rolled his fighter in even closer to the station and opened fire on the topside Turbolaser turret. Paired laser cannon shots walked up the turret housing melting armour plate. The cannons in the first turret exploded scatering debris far and wide.

Dereliction and Bright Hope finished their micro jumps next and the Gunship opened fire on two of the other turrets with laser cannon and turbolasers. A second turret exploded before the station raised it's shields. The underside turret opened fire on Dereliction stitching the ship with rapid Turbolaser fire.

The ugly fired it's concussion missiles but the explosives detonated on the station shields. Dereliction rolled as she continued firing, trying to keep fresh shields toward the heavy Turbolaser barrage.

Captain Gades yelled out to the bridge crew of Bright Hope. "Helm, drop our nose then give us all stop! Antur overcharge all our cannons and fire them en-mass."

The Corvette's topside Double Turbolaser turret and four laser cannon swung into line with the stations underside turret as the helmsman completed their maneuver. The tips of the cannon barrels almost started to glow with excess heat as they built up dangerous levels of charge.

"Cannons are going to overheat and melt down if we wait any longer." Cautioned Antur.  
"Wait for it..." Urged Ora.  
Dereliction rolled again and fired a new burst from her Turbolsers.  
"Fire!"

The cannon hits from the Gunship's weapons weakened the shields just enough for Bright Hope's high powered shots to burn through, destroying the turret. The brige crew cheered in triumph. Over the noise the Captain called out for the helmsman.  
"The second their shields are down bring our forward bay into line with their main cargo doors."

Alek rushed back to the bow sections of the ship after scouring the aft sections for extra boarding personel. Most of the crew had spent time training for and boarding Slaveships bound for Hutt space. They all knew now that Imperial troops might be here and the lead boarding teams were armed with the heaviest weapons they could carry.

At the door to the forward cargo bay stood Arrik Synn, the Human boarding chief wearing his Juggernaut 510 Combat Power Armour. He nodded to Alek as he approached and waved aside a few other memebers of his team to make room.  
"I've got a couple of guys with a micro Concussion missile launcher and most of my lead teams have grenades of one kind or another."

Alek locked a heavy powercell into his blaster rifle and flipped it's fire selector to automatic. He looked to the larger armoured man. "There's a good chance of Stormies this time."

"That's what I like to hear. I could use a good fight." The boarding chief cleared his throat. "Alright people, we're after some Imps this time it looks like! They'll be good so we've gotta be better. Work in teams, call for help, nades on pinned targets, all of that. Use your head and dont get killed."

Most of those present yelled out in acknowledgement then grabbed handrails as the shiip shook again. Overhead lighting flickered and dimmed for a few seconds then came back on.

"Bridge to boarding teams, stand by. All hands, brace for impact."

Arrik hit a button on the side of his helmet letting him tap into the ship's sensors. At the last second he called out an additional; "Brace!" and everyone grabbed restraint bars even more tightly just in time for the ship to slam into the station's docking bay. Everyone aboard was thrown forward from the impact despite the helmsman having slowed them down considerably.

Before anyone else recovered Arrik was into the Corvette's firward cargo fold and sprinting for the partially opened bay doors. The Magcon field remained powered around the cargo bay door just incase enough of the ship's bow hadn't entered the station's own bay. The floor of the station's bay was more than a metre above that of the Corvette's cargo bay floor but a small enough drop that the Chief didn't even slow as he leapt aboard the station.

Most of the cargo loading doors aboard the station were locked down or sealed completely but one small entrance leading toward the station center was open. Four troopers in scout armour rushed from the door and opened fire on the still lone figure. Arrik didnt's even slow, as he tirggered his medium repeating blaster filling the doorway with red bolts and blocking any retreat. Then a grenade from his shoulder launcher hit the decking at the feet of the four Scout Troops.

003 


	4. Chapter 4

-1

Alek and the rest of the boarding team caught up to the large Security Chief while he held the lone entrance to the station cargo bay. Steam was starting to come off of Arrik's armour as his suit's temperamental shielding outpaced it's cooling system. The Chief fell back a moment allowing other members of the boarding team to take his place, firing down the hallway.

"How many? asked Alek.  
"Not so many yet, and they all seem to be equipped with different forms of scout trooper armour. They have a security station at the end of the hall with an E-web."

"Can we risk heavy weapons?" wondered Alek.

"We won't have a choice in a minute or two. We have to get inside before they seal this section and deactivate the magcon field or it's going to get a whole lot harder."  
The noise of blaster fire increased substantially then, making it harder to hear.

"Do it!" Alek yelled, but he swore inwardly at how expensive it would be to buy replacement weapons once this was over.

Arrik waved in his heavy weapons specialists then hand signalled their firing order. One of the Twi'lek's fired a pair of concussion grenades down the hallway first to clear out any troopers. After the debris had cleared from the second blast, two other members of the security team leaned out from cover and launched a pair of shoulder fired concussion missiles down the corridor. The combined explosion was nearly powerful to knock some members of the boarding team off their feet. A cloud of fast moving debris flew out from the doorway pushing along a broken Stormtrooper helmet.

"Not quite all scout troopers." Alek mused.

"Move!" shouted Arrik as he lead the way, charging into the station's interior.

+

Ten minutes later the main boarding team burst into the station's operations center. Three officers spun away from control consoles and fired at the intruders with pistols. Stun bolts struck two of the officers and the third took a headshot from a Heavy Repeater. Other members of the boarding team paused and looked over at the Sullustan carrying the Repeater weapon.

"Sorry." he mumbled sheepishly after realising the mess the dead officer had made.

As some of the team began checking over the controls Arrik started unlatching parts of his armour. After a few seconds he unslung the backpack sections containing the power systems of the suit.  
"My suit's down for the next hour." he declared, unhooking the Medium Blaster from the suit and attaching a power cell to it.

Alek looked up from one of the consoles. "Alright then... Arrik can you take care of operations and get more of our people aboard? I'm going to take some people down and check out these medical suites that are set up on the lower levels."

"Sound good." Arrik agreed. "Chev, this station isn't going to explode is it?"

One of the boarding crew members wiped blood left from the dead Imperial off of a console then replied. "No... they didn't finish entering the self destruct."

"That's good news. Alek stay in contact, we'll get you some map info incase your team gets lost down there."

+

Arrik's distorted voice came over the com. "You're coming up to the main Junction now."

A set of double cargo doors slid into their housings as Alek and the team advanced. Inside was an outer medical ward apparently used for support duties.

"Right on the money control." Alek replied into the com. "What do the rest of the scans show?"

"It gets a little unclear." the com crackled. "What are you seeing?"

Alek glanced either way as they moved farther in. "The halls branch off in either direction. More sealed rooms both ways from what I can see."

"Ok... to your right should be the main stasis storage and on the far left are some high security lab rooms."

"Sounds about right" Alek whispered to himself.  
"Ok let's split up." he said looking to the rest of the team. "Two with me, we'll check out the high security rooms. The rest of you check the stasis bays. Whose to say what they've got locked away in there."

A female Sullustan and a male Twi'lek shouldered their weapons as they fell into step with the Commander. Knowing the human's penchant for finding trouble they spread out to either side of the hallway as the three advanced.

"Are you showing any life signs down here?" Alek asked into the com again.

"Negative. Just a lot of static."

"Jamming?"

"That's affirmative... Bright Hope is showing these decks as a big blank spot on active sensors."

The team passed more enclosed and sealed operating theatres with transparisteel walls. Large tables were set up in the center of each room and equally large ceiling mounted armatures were suspended above carrying equipment. Life support equipment covered the back walls. Every last operating room was empty of life. All of the equipment inside them so clean they might never have been used.

"Commander, look." said the Twi'lek, pointing through the armoured viewport at what had to be a mug of Caf. Steam was still rising from it.

"This is Alek, we are inot/i alone down here. Somebody here likes their Caf nice and hot."

Before any one in the station's control room could reply, someone else broke in on the same channel. "Team Two here, we've got bodies in the stasis storage bay."

"Roger that. But I'm more worried about who's still alive down here Team Two."

They rounded a bend in the corridor trying to stay as quiet as possible. On the left side of the new stretch of the hallway was an open loading door. Alek rushed to the edge of the entrance and glanced around the corner. Nothing shot at him so he looked again. Facing him was an identical, though closed door about five metres in. This door also had a large biohazard symbol painted on it.

"Looks like we just scored a pure Sabacc." Alek commented. "Masks on and don't touch anything." he ordered before stepping through the open entrance.  
The moment his foot touched the floor inside the entrance it set off disguised pressure plates. With barely any warning the heavy loading door fell from it's mount in the ceiling. The other two team members were fast enough to jump back, but the human leading them was not. Alek was trapped inside. Before he could even respond to this new situation however he heard something.

The sound of a descending sentry gun.

004 


End file.
